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Employees Taking Long
Sick Leave Have More
Chances To Die Early
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Employees Taking Long
Sick Leave Have More
Chances To Die Early
If you are one of those
employees who likes to
take time off work more
than others, read on.
Employees off sick for
long periods - even for
common conditions like
flu - are far more
likely to die before
their co-workers who do
not take such leave,
researchers said on
Friday.
The British study of
government workers
included people who were
healthy to start with
and suggested extended
sick leave for minor
ailments as well as more
major ones could point
to serious health
problems down the road.
"It is not just down to
serious medical
conditions but it seems
this relationship is
seen across a wide range
of common health
problems," said Jenny
Head, a statistician at
University College
London who led the
study.
"This appears to be a
good early marker for
people going on to
develop more long-term
serious illnesses."
The results could help
doctors and employers
identify people at
higher risk of serious
illness early on and
long before they have
symptoms, Head added.
The report in the
British Medical Journal
looked at sickness
records of 6,478 British
civil servants between
1985 and 1988 and then
followed up which men
and women died through
2004.
People who were off sick
more than seven days
were more likely to die,
they found. People who
took one or more long
absence in three years
were 66 percent more
likely to die, Head said
in a telephone
interview.
"We also saw that
relationship in people
who were in good health
at the beginning of the
study," she added.
While it would make
sense that people off
for surgery or
circulatory problems
would face increased
odds of dying early, the
findings extended to
people who had called in
sick for minor
complaints such as
coughs and colds and
flu.
Cancer caused about half
of the deaths and heart
problems another 25
percent, but the
researches did not look
at possible mechanisms
to explain the link
between dying early and
long sick spells.
Psychiatric problems
such as depression
boosted the chances of a
cancer-related death by
two-and-a-half times,
and sick days due to
problems such as back
pain or arthritis also
increased the premature
death risk. |
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